


Brotherhood

by ncis-mcrt (AzaWhite)



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 03:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14323539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzaWhite/pseuds/ncis-mcrt
Summary: .Sergei Mishnev has never quite known what 'enough' feels like. Not until he's dead..A character study in four parts.





	Brotherhood

**Author's Note:**

> I recently rewatched bits of Season 12 and remembered how much I actually enjoyed the Sergei Mishnev arc (at least, until it fizzled out). I was intrigued by Sergei's past and wanted to explore it a bit.
> 
> I've taken liberties with both Sergei and Ari's pre-series personalities on the premise that we are not introduced to them before key life-altering moments (before Hasmia Haswari's death for Ari, and before Ari's death for Sergei).
> 
> Also, I used GoogleTranslate to get the Arabic words "mommy" "daddy" and "brother" (in italics), so if they're wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it.

 

*********

 

Sergei Mishnev is four years old when his mother sits him down and explains that he is going to be a big brother. He does not understand why or how, but he does understand that his _al’umu_ is happy. She explains it with a big smile she normally reserves for when Sergei makes silly faces or when she tucks him in at night. “Seryozha,” she says, “do you remember Doctor Ben?” He does. Doctor Ben is nice and gives him sweets whenever he comes to “talk work” with _al’umu_ , whatever that means.

“Well, Doctor Ben and I have decided to have a baby.” Sergei does not understand what Doctor Ben has to do with this. He tilts his head and frowns. It has always been him and _al’umu_. Why does she need Doctor Ben to have a baby? He asks as much. She laughs gently and says something about “two people loving each other very, very much” and Doctor Ben being the baby’s _abee_ but he doesn’t pay attention for long.

“When’s the baby coming? Is the baby going to be a brother or a sister? I hope it’s a brother. Girls are—” and here he sticks out his tongue to properly express his feelings on the matter.

His mother smiles again. “Well, the baby is going to be here in about five months.” She pauses before continuing. “And the baby is a boy. You’re going to have a little brother!” She reassures him that she will always, always love him and that he can ask her anything.

Sergei nods happily and runs off. Right now, he doesn’t care about the tiny person inside his _al’umu_. He has trucks and cars that practically beg to be raced down the hall of their apartment. In fact, several days pass before he bothers to wonder about his _abee_. If the baby is going to have a father, shouldn’t he? When Sergei asks his mother about this, she doesn’t say anything for a long time. When she does talk, her voice sounds funny, like she’s just woken up or just came home from work.

“Your father…lives in a place far, far away,” she says, walking around the table to put a hand on his shoulder. “But he does love you, Seryozha.”

That’s all he needs to hear, and he resumes coloring. He will live with _al’umu_ and his baby brother and that is enough for him.

 

*********

 

Sergei Mishnev is nine (“almost ten, _al’umu_!”) and Ari Haswari is six when a strange man knocks on the door to the apartment and tears the brothers apart. Ari is at school when it happens—a small blessing. The sharp knocks send Sergei’s mother rushing to open the door, son hot on her heels. He peers from behind her legs as she pales upon seeing the man in the threshold. Sergei doesn’t understand why she suddenly starts crying. He also doesn’t understand why she invites him in and offers him something to drink. At least, not until she finally composes herself and says something that changes his life.

“Seryozha, Sergei, this is Dmitri Mishnev, your—your father.” Sergei’s jaw drops, but she continues before he can say anything. “And he wants to take you to Russia with him.”

“I won’t go!”

The man—his father—glares. It’s scary. “Yes, you will.”

Sergei is temporarily taken aback, but he quickly regains his nerve. “I want to stay with _al’umu_ and Ari! You can’t make me go! You can’t!” He’s on the verge of a full-blown fit before he remembers to take a deep breath. He continues his protests in a much calmer tone.

The man ignores him in favor of talking in hushed voices with Sergei’s mother. When Dmitri leaves, Sergei makes a point of not saying good-bye or even looking in the general direction of the door. He gets scolded for it, but it’s well worth it. What does make him upset is the way his mother keeps sighing.

The next week is full of Sergei overhearing his _al’umu_ arguing on the phone with Dmitri. She always cries during the phone calls. He feels guilty and thinks deep down that if he’d just agreed to go with his father she wouldn’t be so sad. So he waits until Ari has been put to bed one night and hesitantly approaches his mother. Sergei tells her that he wants to go to Russia, with his father.

She frowns. “Are you sure, Sergei?”

He nods, even though he’s lying and feels like his heart is going to crumble to ash. “I want to know my _abee_ the way Ari knows his.” He pauses. “But I want to spend my birthday with you and _shaqiq_ first.” He had allowed himself to ask for this. He’ll only be nine for another few weeks.

His mother looks deep into his eyes and then hugs him tight. “If that’s what you want, Seryozha.”

Ari cries when Sergei breaks the news that he will soon move to Russia and only be able to contact his little brother by letter a few times a year. That will be enough, says Sergei, and pretends that he’s telling the truth.

 

*********

 

Sergei Mishnev is twenty-two years old when his father, finally fed up with his son’s preference for sport rather than military strategizing, disowns him. In the end, Anton Pavlenko and he fail tryouts. Anton recovers. Sergei does not. Left with no way to pay for a continued education, he takes years of lessons in languages and weaponry to an Afghani opium cartel. It’s not what he had in mind (and he can’t help but shudder to think of his mother finding out) but it pays the bills. The first time he kills, he drowns himself in so much vodka it takes him a week to fully recover.

He continues to write to Ari—Ari, whose father is not actually named Benjamin Weinstein, but rather Eli David. It makes Sergei sick, the things Ari describes happening in the name of Mossad. That is his little brother, and he should remain as innocent as the day he was born, cradled in Hasmia Haswari’s arms and cooed over by a brother only four short years older. They see each other once every year or so, usually ending up playing chess lakeside in Europe.

“Checkmate.” Ari moves his selected piece into place. “You really do need to strategize better, brother. You’re too obvious.”

Sergei laughs. “Ah, I can’t help it if my little brother has so much more natural talent.” He knows that Ari will always be better at strategy games than him. Better at warfare too. He tries not to think about the why too much.

Ari tidies up his side of the board, deliberately not meeting Sergei’s eyes. “…I’m going to be sent to infiltrate Hamas.”

Sergei feels his heart stop. His breath catches. He wants to grab Ari and run, but Mossad would find them. Instead he settles for cursing Eli David to the worst depths of hell and forces a reassuring smile.

That’s the last time they speak before Israel strikes the clinic where their mother works. They are different people when they meet at the funeral, and revenge on Eli David and men like him will have to be enough.

 

*********

 

Sergei Mishnev is fifty (and Ari Haswari has been dead for ten years) when he finally chases his brother’s killer. How he’s waited for this day. Nearly nine years of constant observation, of watching Agent Gibbs and team, of refining his military strengths, all leading up to this. To revenge.

He’d been considerate enough to wait for his brother’s precious half-sister to leave NCIS. While he still couldn’t possibly fathom working for Ari’s killer, he thought perhaps Ziva David did not care enough. Or at all. In any case, he’d bidden his time. Ari had cared for her, trusted her, so Sergei would not harm her. But the others he could not care less about. Gibbs will pay.

So he stages murders to mirror the ones that clearly affected the agent the most. Jennifer Sheppard. Mike Franks. He loves setting up Diane Sterling to die like Caitlin Todd. The satisfaction of knowing Gibbs feels pain outweighs the ache in his jaw from the agent’s punches. With every mistake Sergei makes on the way to justice, he cannot help but see Ari’s face, that day by the lake, saying “checkmate.” Telling him he needed to get better. Demanding vengeance. By the time it nears mid-December, Sergei is desperate, which perhaps explains why he listens to Anton even though the counselor has made his distaste known.

He goes to the cabin. Wakes up in the woods. Knows, without a doubt, that he is going to die. Still, he puts on a good show. Just beyond his adversary’s silhouette, Sergei sees his mother. She smiles with tears in her eyes, like the last time he saw her, when he was ten and leaving Palestine for good. He sees Ari, somewhere between twenty and thirty, happy and smiling and welcoming. Sergei clicks the trigger of the weapon he’s been allowed. It’s empty. He guessed it would be. His family solidifies, and he reaches out to join them.

After all the years of knowing killing Agent Gibbs wouldn’t be enough, after all the years of being broken, death is welcome.

This is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you like this, please drop some kudos and/or a comment.


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